The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Avitourism to Islands: the Example of Fair Isle, Scotland

This paper discusses the potential impact of climate change upon a specific form of tourism, avitourism (birdwatching), and the resulting effects upon islands dependent upon this form of tourism. Bird populations, distributions and migratory patterns are all vulnerable to the impacts of global warming, extreme weather events and changes in the marine environment, as are the islands which provide their habitat. Avitourism is a lucrative and non-consumptive form of tourism that is of major importance to some small islands, particularly those that have unique indigenous breeding species and/or are visited by migrating species on a regular basis. A number of such islands have bird observatories whose visitors contribute significantly to the small local economies. The implications of climate change on avitourism are identified and summarised, and then discussed in the context of potential impacts on the well-being of island communities. While most climate change predictions are generalised and incapable of being applied to specific locations such as a small island, or particular species of birds, a recent development has provided an opportunity to explore what the impacts might be in some detail. The paper uses the case of Fair Isle (Scotland) to illustrate the effects of a sudden loss of avitourism to that islands’ residents. The accidental destruction of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory in 2019 meant the cessation of avitourism to that island by removing the accommodation used by such visitors since the 1950s, depriving the island economy of tourist expenditure and employment, a potential source of new residents, as well as threatening the viability of other island services, including its access by air. This local catastrophe thus provided a unique opportunity to identify what might happen to other islands if the avian attractions for tourists were to disappear or be changed radically by climate change

Incorporating the value proposition for society with business models of health tourism enterprises

This article discusses the need to expand the concept of the value proposition, in order that this business model component includes the value for a customer, the value captured by the enterprise, and the value for the community, as well as benefits for the natural environment. The objective of the article is to identify sustainable development components that have been proposed for tourist enterprises in the research literature. The article proposes actions to complement existing tourist enterprises business models in order to give them the characteristics of a sustainable business model and to implement practices of value creation for the community. The research notes that the value captured by an enterprise determines the level of implementation of its economic objectives resulting from the value creation for the customer and implementation of social objectives (including pro-ecologic ones). The revenues of an enterprise depend, first of all, on meeting the expectations of the customer, meaning that they depend on the value proposition for the customer, and their volume will allow researchers to determine the possibility of creating value for the community. The expected tendency to create value for the community is argued to be proportional to the effectiveness of customer value influence, less the value captured by the enterprise. After an initial review of relevant literature, attention is focused on health tourism enterprises and how these principals can be applied in that context

Guidelines for reducing porpoise mortality in tuna purse seining

More than a decade has passed since the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. During that time the U.S. tuna purse seine neet reduced its incidental porpoise mortality rate more than 10-fold. This was made possible through the development of gear and techniques aimed at reducing the frequency of many low probability events that contribute to the kill. Porpoise are killed by becoming entangled or entrapped in folds and canopies of the net and suffocating. The configuration of the net, both before and during the backdown release procedure, is a major determinant of the number of porpoise killed. Speedboats can be used to tow on the corkllne to prevent net collapse and also to adjust the net configuration to reduce net canopies prior to backdown. Deepening a net can reduce the probability of porpoise being killed by prebackdown net collapse. The effects of environmental conditions and mechanical failures on net configuration can result in high porpoise mortality unless mitigated by skilled vessel maneuvers or prevented by the timely use of speedboats to adjust the net. The backdown procedure is the only means to effectively release captured porpoise from a purse seine. It is also the time during the set when most of the mortality occurs. The use of small mesh safety panels and aprons in the backdown areas of nets reduces porpoise entanglement, and Increases the probability of an effective release. The tie-down points on the net for preparing the backdown channel must be properly located in order to optimize porpoise release. A formula uses the stretched depth of the net to calculate one of these points, making it a simple matter to locate the other. Understanding the dynamics of the backdown procedure permits a thorough troubleshooting of performance, thus preventing the repetition of poorly executed backdowns and thereby reducing mortality. Porpoise that cannot be released must be rescued by hand. A rescuer in a rigidly inflated raft can rescue porpoise effectively at any time during a net set. Hand rescue can make the difference between above average kill and zero kill sets. In all circumstances, the skill and motivation of the captain and his crew are the final determinants in the prevention of incidental porpoise mortality in tuna seining. (PDF file contains 22 pages.

Geikie's field researches and their geological controversies

All of us were introduced to the Moine Thrust Belt and its controversies by the late Mike Coward. We are indebted to him for instilling a passion for structural geology, challenging conventional wisdom and for tales of early protagonists. We also thank the late John Mendum, who kindly shared a copy of his notes on the Highlands Controversy, together with Robert Neller, Collections Officer at Haslemere Educational Museum, for facilitating access to Geikie’s field-notes and artwork.Peer reviewedPostprin

WORKPLACE ORGANIZATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES: THE RETAIL FOOD INDUSTRY

Most retail food firms adhere to traditional human resources management practices, with employees enjoying little involvement in decision-making and little participation in company financial returns. More than one tenth of non-food firms have innovative human resources systems, with much individual and group involvement in decision-making and financial returns, but only a minuscule proportion of food firms have such systems. At the other end of the spectrum, more than one-fifth of food stores and eating and drinking places (and nearly one-third of food wholesale firms) have traditional systems, as compared to only one-tenth of non-food firms. The tasks and the human resource practices typical of retail food firms are consistent with each other. Core employees in these firms perform tasks that are generally simpler and less variable than those in other industries, and the firms' human resource practices generally give workers less autonomy and incentives than those in other industries. Whether the structure and variability of tasks are the result of a particular business strategy or adoption of a certain technology is not known. Which came first, these simple tasks, the workers who perform them, or these human resource policies is similarly unknown. We arrive at these conclusions through analysis of an original data set composed of 806 Minnesota firms, including 211 food firms, which allows us to characterize the change in human resource practices since the early 1980s, and to examine differences in the organization of work across companies. Work organization and human resource practices in the retail food industry have changed substantially, although the change has been less pronounced than in most other industries.Labor and Human Capital, Marketing,

Bending strength of delaminated aerospace composites

Buckling-driven delamination is considered among the most critical failure modes in composite laminates. This paper examines the propagation of delaminations in a beam under pure bending. A pre-developed analytical model to predict the critical buckling moment of a thin sub-laminate is extended to account for propagation prediction, using mixed-mode fracture analysis. Fractography analysis is performed to distinguish between mode I and mode II contributions to the final failure of specimens. Comparison between experimental results and analysis shows agreement to within 5 per cent in static propagation moment for two different materials. It is concluded that static fracture is almost entirely driven by mode II effects. This result was unexpected because it arises from a buckling mode that opens the delamination. For this reason, and because of the excellent repeatability of the experiments, the method of testing may be a promising means of establishing the critical value of mode II fracture toughness, G IIC , of the material. Fatigue testing on similar samples showed that buckled delamination resulted in a fatigue threshold that was over 80 per cent lower than the static propagation moment. Such an outcome highlights the significance of predicting snap-buckling moment and subsequent propagation for design purposes. </jats:p

Running in standard versus minimalist shoes

The purpose of this study was to determine if running in a minimalist shoe results in a reduction in ground reaction forces and alters kinematics over standard shoe running. The secondary purpose of this study was to determine if within–session accommodation to a novel minimalist shoe occurs. Running in a minimalist shoe appears to, at least in the short–term, increase loading of the lower extremity over standard shoe running. The accommodation period resulted in less favorable landing mechanics in both shoes. These findings bring into question whether minimal shoes will provide enough feedback to induce an alteration that is similar to barefoot running